This Queensland painter doesn't mind having controversy
on his palette.

Richard Bell. Photo: David Hancock

A ripple went around the room during the launch of the Message
Sticks program when it was announced that Queensland artist Richard
Bell's work would be seen around Circular Quay.

No other name linked with the three-week celebration of
indigenous culture prompted such an audible reaction. Perhaps people
were wondering out loud what the 50-year-old might wear when he
arrives in town for this weekend's two-day talk-fest, Talkin' Up
River. Bell caused a furore last year when he accepted first prize in
the Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award wearing a
T-shirt emblazoned with the slogan "White girls can't hump". He'd
been wearing that number around the nation for a while, including to
the Melbourne Art Fair, so he claims he doesn't know what all the
fuss was about.

Brisbane-based Bell is an expert at courting controversy. He's
aware of the power of a few well-chosen words; words are central to
his art. One of his works that will be on display is Genesis,
a colourful patchwork of colour bearing the words, "The meek
inherited the Earth (and we lost it)."

Bell learned early on that shyness doesn't get you anywhere. He
grew up in outback Queensland, around Charleville, Mitchell and
Augathella. His father spent most of his time droving and
cane-cutting and was rarely at home, so Bell was brought up by his
mother.

"We couldn't afford good cuts of meat and we'd get sick of
sausages," Bell says, "so me and my brother would say, 'Oh bugger
this, let's go get some goanna, porcupine, kangaroo or emu or
whatever.'

"We'd have fried scones with goanna or emu or porcupine, and
white kids would be swapping us white bread with ham. [At school] I
went off to the side to eat my things, because I was a bit 'shame'
that we couldn't afford the stuff all the rich kids had.

"My younger brother, Marshall, didn't give a fuck. He'd say, 'Eh,
wanna taste of this?' They were like, 'Oh yeah, that's nice.' Then
he'd say, 'Good, now give me yours.' He had kids lined up wanting to
try his stuff. We ended up scamming some good tucker out of
that." Bell's mother, who made a living decorating wedding cakes, died
when he was 17 - but not before she taught her son the art of cake
decorating. Bell's aunties remain convinced that icing cakes helped
him become the artist he is today.